Steps towards making the dream a reality...

niftythrifty33

Whilst updating my sig just now I thought it would be good to make a quick OP to round up the mortgage figures. Is this doing a tilly tidy? It's looking good though and I think I'll do this each month as well as any normal OP's.

Like mentioned on previous post, using cash definately works best for us. I've done this for years on and off but it really does make us more careful. It's quite hard to keep track of where it's gone, especially if I forget for a few days.

Haven't made the meal plan yet. Grandad bought a take-away last night so I've still got chicken for today. I'm taking DD for her theory test, 2 hours drive!! and I'm shattered as been up with back pain since 4.30am then working til 9pm

DS had a new bed base last year from a v. small local firm. It broke badly a few months ago when he sat on it and we put a huge piece of MDF under his mattress. I thought I'd just try the firm for a replacement thinking it wouldn't work, but they were fab and are delivering one today :jsaving me about £100 for a new base.

gallygirl

niftythrifty33 wrote: »

Whilst updating my sig just now I thought it would be good to make a quick OP to round up the mortgage figures. Is this doing a tilly tidy?

Well normally a Tilly Tidy is when you tidy your bank accounts to make them a tidy sum, but I'd done a Tilly Tidy to round up the mortgage before. The trouble is, you do that and then your bank accounts are untidy - best tidy them up as well. But then the mortgage account is untidy - best tidy that up again . Keep going till the balance is a nice tidy 0 :T.

niftythrifty33

Gally girl, that really made me smile, I can imagine the dilemma!!

I remembered that I had done a tilly tidy before on my current acct. but it felt a lot better doing it to the mortgage, though not sure why?

I managed to buy lots of reduced meat & fish yesterday. Probably the best perk of working in a supermarket, getting to find the bargains! I don't know whether we save lots of money but we eat a better quality diet these days such as some good steak or salmon which I'd never have afforded before. I would like us all to eat more non-meat meals though to balance out these rich, quality meat meals, but my kids are quite fussy with good vegetarian meals such as pulses etc. and I don't believe quorn to be a good quality substitute (although I do use it occasionally).

I've been watching the 'home in time for dinner' series on BBC2 and it's been wonderful. I love the history of food and family life over the past century, especially from 40's onwards.

Anyway, enough rambling. The new bed base arrived and it's 100% better than the old one, what a good result!

niftythrifty33

Interest has arrived from the new bank account and we've recieved £13.02 in interest & cashback on DD's. We had a £2 charge though. I was under the impression that the first years charge of £24 p/y was free so will have to enquire about this.

It feels as though we've been quite frivilous this past few weeks but when I filled in the spreadsheet today we haven't actually spent that much. As long as we're careful for the rest of April we'll be in quite good credit. Hopefully enough to make a good OP

We have to buy a new bed which is a big expense! I've found one for £650 plus I get a staff discount and they have a code for £125 off so will be considerably cheaper.

My freezer is full of ys stuff from work so not more bargain buying for a while until it's all been used. Trouble is, it's joints of meat which are hard to use in this weather when nobody wants a roast.

Got lots to do tomorrow but will try and update this diary more regularly

niftythrifty33

Well the bed's been ordered. Still can't believe what a bargain I got, originally £650 but with discount code, other discount, cashback etc it camt to £470 so a massive saving.

We've just been on a lovely 17 mile bike ride along the canal. Lovely and free (apart from the horrible swans...I hate swans). Cheap tea tonight with pick n mix salads, ham & baked spuds (yet more amazing ys stuff from work).

I'm still getting used to the Santander set-up. It's quite frustrating with everything being in one place; everyday money, savings, DS savings, and currently some of DS2 & DD's savings. The last 2 can be transferred to their ISA's next week. I wonder whether it'd be better to transfer our weekly money to a separate acct. or just start using cash again and try to avoid card transactions? Has anyone else struggled with this since switching?

gallygirl

niftythrifty33 wrote: »

Well the bed's been ordered. Still can't believe what a bargain I got, originally £650 but with discount code, other discount, cashback etc it camt to £470 so a massive saving.

We've just been on a lovely 17 mile bike ride along the canal. Lovely and free (apart from the horrible swans...I hate swans). Cheap tea tonight with pick n mix salads, ham & baked spuds (yet more amazing ys stuff from work).

I'm still getting used to the Santander set-up. It's quite frustrating with everything being in one place; everyday money, savings, DS savings, and currently some of DS2 & DD's savings. The last 2 can be transferred to their ISA's next week. I wonder whether it'd be better to transfer our weekly money to a separate acct. or just start using cash again and try to avoid card transactions? Has anyone else struggled with this since switching?

A spreadsheet is the answer, with lots of clearly identified (I block-coloured) 'pots', all with their own total and columns for in and out, with an overall total. The real fun comes when you have to decide how to allocate the interest :rotfl:, I actually worked out the average balance of each 'pot' over the month, worked that out as a % of the overall balance and allocated accordingly. Which is probably a little OTT .

niftythrifty33

Hanging on in here with the thoughts of mortgage freedom, though it seems a million miles away still!

I've just had an op' for a nasty lump and will get the results in 2 weeks. So I'm currently resting, hence now have time to come back and re-start my diary. I only get SSP and it's been an awfully expensive month for us so I've been looking at ways to earn an extra few quid on the other boards but they all just seem like you can only earn a few pennies, nothing substantial so unsure whether to bother?

I've managed a few overpayments this year and the balance is going down nicely. I've heard talks of the interest rates going up soon so wondering whether to change to a fixed rate?

It's been an awful year for us which I think I mentioned a few posts ago? I think we've handled it by doing extra nice things, going out, buying clothes etc. not much but more than usual to try and raise our spirits so I don't feel bad, but it's really showing this month as we've overspent by a lot! Time to reign it in, although with my health stuff hanging over us it's hard to think about much else. The only way we can make overpayments is if I do extra shifts and that's not going to be happening for a while.

BUT...I'm still trying and we still have a goal...hopefully to have it paid off by the time we're both 50 in 2024 (9 years)

niftythrifty33

Not sure if I asked you all on here previously or on the banking thread? But since moving to Santander I'm finding it difficult to keep track of our money as it's all in one place.

In our account we have our everyday money, savings of a few grand and some of the eldest two kids savings that I don't want to give them yet as they'll spend it (age 17 & 19).

Should I transfer a set amount each week into an old HSBC account and use that for normal spending? I do keep an up-to-date spreadsheet but I just struggle seeing it all in one place after years of having everything it different pots.

Thanks for any advice

niftythrifty33

Just done a Tillytidy on the mortgage. I prefer overpaying in this way as I do love a rounded up number

We'd gone back to using the debit card for past few months but we've now gone back to cash. I worked out that we spend an average of £400 per week :eek: This is ABSOLUTELY everything except DD's. I worked this out since Jan 2015 so this includes cars stuff, birthdays, furniture, holidays, Uni accommodation deposit etc etc. Obviously we'd like to reduce this so we're now taking out £200 cash each week. If we have anything left over we'll let that build up to pay for the bigger things.

In next few weeks we have college fees, kit fees (daughter studying beauty therapy). So we've decided to reduce the weekly cash withdrawal to £150 for a few weeks.

niftythrifty33

Recent money saving last few days:

£22.08 TCB paid out
£47 weekly shop L1dl for 4 adults (normally 5 but 1 still away)
£18.88 interest & cashback from bank account
£88.90 refund for damaged furniture, not being replaced.

No takeaways this week, cooking from scratch.
Not using tumble dryer.
Walk to work & take packed lunch.
Tues = NSD
Wed = NSD

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